The Best Air Fryers of 2022

• Capacity: 4 quarts
• Dimensions: 12.7 x 17 x 12.4 inches
• Weight: 17.5 pounds

The Philips Airfryer XXL was one of the most user-friendly appliances we tested. During testing, I tasted a ton of french fries, and this appliance made ones that I couldn’t stop noshing on. They had the perfect combination of crispy crunchiness, tenderness, and potato flavor—even when I loaded the basket with more than three pounds of them.

The battered Nashville hot chicken tenders I made finished with a crackling crust as if they’d been deep-fried, and hamburgers tasted like they were made on the grill.

This appliance was consistently fantastic at air frying, even with large family-size portions of healthier fried foods. Plus, it's a well-built machine and easy to use—no preheating is required. If you really love fried food without all the fat, the Philips is definitely worth the investment.

That said, it’s a big, heavy machine that’s noisier than most of its competitors while operating. And with no digital control panel, it’s hard to set cooking times and temperatures precisely.

With a few more parts than most other models, there’s more to clean. Fortunately, all the parts are dishwasher safe. Just note that it will eat up considerable shelf and counter space. But the results are worth the payoff. An easy-to-read recipe book with lots of cooking ideas is also included.

• Capacity: 0.3 cubic feet
• Dimensions: 11.75 x 12 x 11.5 inches
• Weight: 16 pounds

Unlike most of these appliances, the Cuisinart Compact AirFryer isn’t shaped like a huge egg or space capsule. Rather it’s a big stainless-steel cube that looks like a truncated toaster oven. While its boxy shape fits more neatly on a countertop, it still takes up a bit of countertop real estate (in spite of its name).

The Cuisinart is relatively uncomplicated. It doesn’t have preset programs for specific foods or additional functions like “keep warm” or “dehydrate.” You simply turn dials to set the temperature and the cooking time, with no need to preheat. The straightforward manual includes recipes to get you started.

Its wide air frying basket allows food to spread out for more even, crispy results with relatively quick cooking times. Using the Cuisinart Compact AirFryer, homemade fries looked and tasted like they had been bobbing in a deep fryer vat of oil.

Neither the stainless-steel basket nor the drip pan is dishwasher safe. If you're making drippy battered items like tempura shrimp or onion rings, it’s not always easy to clean. However, if you’re looking for an appliance that air fries well without an exorbitant price, this Cuisinart is well worth your consideration.

• Capacity: 6 quarts
• Dimensions: 12.5 x 14.8 x 14.8 inches
• Weight: 15.67 pounds

The Dash Deluxe 6-Quart Air Fryer delivers food that’s browned and crispy, as you don’t overload it. Although it’s a 6-quart model, the basket's small diameter holds less food in one layer than the larger models tested.

While the Dash doesn’t include digital controls, it's still very simple to operate. Simply turn the temperature and time dials in an intuitive, two-step process. If you’re tired of boring-looking appliances, the Dash comes in glossy red, yellow, and aqua, as well as white and black.

Even though you have to hand wash the baskets, they're nonstick and easy to get clean.

• Capacity: 8-quart pot and 5-quart Crisp Basket
• Dimensions: 15.39 x 14.21 x 14.25 inches
• Weight: 25.6 pounds

Our best pressure cooker is also a multicooker with an excellent air-fry function.

With 14 functions combined into one appliance, incredibly, they all work well. It delivered crunchy, well-browned results in our testing, plus it pressure-cooks better than any appliance we've tested.

If you like, you can even combine the functions, pressure cooking a chicken and then air-frying it to brown and crisp the skin—and now all under one lid with this redesigned model. Additional programs let you broil, dehydrate, steam, slow cook, and sauté, making the Foodi the most versatile multicooker on the market.

Like the Ninja Speedi, the Foodi is space-saving compared to owning both an air fryer and a multicooker. But it’s still a large, heavy appliance that's not easy to store. The basket and the pot are nonstick and dishwasher safe, but the lid requires TLC.

• Capacity: 4 quarts
• Dimensions: 8.5 x 12.1 x 11 inches
• Weight: 10.58 pounds

The Ninja performed so well, you could have convinced me that both the breaded and battered chicken was fried in a cast iron skillet.

French fries were good but not perfect. They didn’t quite have the crunch that you get from a deep fryer or the Philips, which can even crisp up a whole bag of frozen fries at once. However, the Ninja is about a quarter of the price of the Philips and is nowhere near as big or heavy.

On the Ninja, you’ll find digital temperature controls and settings for reheating, roasting, and dehydrating. More options make for more complicated controls, but it’s not difficult to master the necessary steps. The nonstick basket can be washed in the dishwasher, too. It also includes a stainless-steel rack for multilevel cooking.

• Capacity: 5.8 quarts
• Dimensions: 13.5 x 12.5 x 11.5 inches
• Weight: 16 pounds

The GoWise 8-in-1 performs well and has some nice advantages. In addition to its large capacity, the digital controls have eight pre-programmed settings and an alarm that can remind you to toss food during cooking.

It doesn’t require preheating and the nonstick basket is dishwasher safe. The GoWise also includes a cookbook with lots of recipe ideas. In addition to black and white, this model comes in red and purple.

• Capacity: 2 quarts
• Dimensions: 8.1 x 10.2 x 11.4 inches
• Weight: 5.7 pounds

This little guy is just so darn cute you can’t help loving it. The Dash Compact does a decent job of “frying” as long as you stick to about a half-pound of food at a time. No preheating is required, but for best results, the food should be tossed and turned several times during cooking.

With its dial temperature controls, you can’t set the Dash precisely. For the most part, the manual is helpful and even includes a few recipes, but some of the temperatures specified in the charts and recipes are different from the ones printed on the machine. The dial also doesn't have precise temperature markings.

The nonstick basket is small enough to go in the dishwasher without hogging too much space. Like the bigger model, the Dash Compact comes in a number of colors: red, aqua, gray, white, or black.